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05 Feb 2011 21:47

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World: Is this Google’s Wael Ghonim getting arrested in Egypt?

  • As you might remember, we expressed serious concern for Wael Ghonim, the head of Google’s Middle East marketing, in a post last week. He hasn’t been heard from since the end of January. This video, however, might provide a clue. It shows someone getting arrested by the Egyptian police who looks A LOT like Ghonim. Hopes and prayers, people. In other news, he’s been named the spokesperson of the April 6 opposition movement in absentia, in an attempt to get Egyptian authorities to release him to them. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 4 Comments • Permalink

05 Feb 2011 21:21

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Politics: Sign of the apocalypse: Matt Drudge joins Twitter (finally)

  • Welcome to Twitter, Matt Drudge, a guy who may be the only person on the planet to claim that Craigslist has a better site design than his, while still scoring similar traffic. Hey Drudge, we’ll buy you a book on CSS if you want it. It’ll make your site load faster. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

05 Feb 2011 21:03

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Culture: “Never Miss a Super Bowl Club” dude can’t make it this year

  • So now, they’re down to three. Green Bay Packers fan Robert Cook, who up until now has been to every Super Bowl, won’t make it this year after getting hospitalized on Thursday. The guy, who was immortalized in the above commercial, is depressed about it but will be watching the game from his hospital bed. “To have the Packers go to the Super Bowl, we were just over the moon about it,” said his wife, Sarah. Now, he can’t go. Sigh. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

05 Feb 2011 20:24

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World: ElBaradei: Egyptian protests could get bloodier in coming days

  • It might not be every day but what I hear is that they might stage demonstrations every other day. The difference is that it would become more angry and more vicious. And I do not want to see it turning from a beautiful, peaceful revolution into a bloody revolution.
  • Egyptian opposition leader Mohamed ElBaradei • Warning that the current spate of protests could get worse if things don’t change soon. While claiming the protests overall weren’t running out of steam, it may be tougher to do them every day as the workweek begins. This is what the Egyptian government appears to be hoping for – that the protesters, facing economic turmoil, will eventually go away. Up next: Omar Suleiman plans to meet with opposition leaders tomorrow. We’ll see what comes of that. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

05 Feb 2011 19:47

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World: Tunisia: Police conflict with protesters escalates, turns deadly

  • 2+ killed by police near a Tunisian police station in Kef; two other reported deaths were unconfirmed
  • 17+ more injured in the conflict, caused after a large crowd attacked and burned a police station source
  • » What happened: In one of the most volatile conflicts since the ouster of President Zine el-Abidine Ben Ali, hundreds of protesters were outside of a police station in Kef where they claimed that the chief was abusing his power. As things have a tendency to do, they deteriorated after the chief, Khaled Ghazouani, reportedly slapped a woman in the crowd. “The police fired to prevent the protesters from breaking into the station,” an official said. The police chief was arrested.
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

05 Feb 2011 12:04

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World: David Cameron: “State multiculturalism” has failed

  • Frankly, we need a lot less of the passive tolerance of recent years and much more active, muscular liberalism.
  • British Prime Minister David Cameron • Offering up this sentiment on tolerance and multiculturalism, suggesting that the United Kingdom needs a stronger sense of unified cultural identity to prevent religious radicalism. He continued: “Let’s properly judge these organisations: Do they believe in universal human rights – including for women and people of other faiths? Do they believe in equality of all before the law? Do they believe in democracy and the right of people to elect their own government? Do they encourage integration or separatism? These are the sorts of questions we need to ask. Fail these tests and the presumption should be not to engage with organisations.” As you might guess, these statements appeared to be targeted towards Muslims, and as a result, this isn’t a particularly popular stance with some. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

05 Feb 2011 11:34

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World: How the U.S. hopes to shape Egypt’s transition from Mubarak

  • before Despite growing protests, the U.S. publicly showed in the past that it favored Hosni Mubarak to stay as Egyptian President.
  • now With growing pressure, Mubarak has possibly stepped down as his party’s leader*, but keeps his position as president, which the U.S. supports.
  • later The U.S. hopes to push for Omar Suleiman’s rise to power as part of a gradual transition, led by Suleiman, leading up to an election. source
  • » Update: There are conflicting reports on whether he actually stepped down from his party or not. We’ll keep you posted when we learn more.
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink
 

05 Feb 2011 10:53

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World: In Egyptian “Rock Paper Scissors,” “human chain” beats “tanks”

The protesters, united in a line, effectively blocked the tanks from getting into Tahrir Square. Awesome. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

05 Feb 2011 09:41

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World: Hillary Clinton: Transitioning to democracy can be risky

  • There are risks with the transition to democracy. (The) transition can backslide into just another authoritarian regime. Revolutions have overthrown dictators in the name of democracy, only to see the political process hijacked by new autocrats who use violence, deception, and rigged elections to stay in power, or to advance an agenda of extremism.
  • Secretary of State Hillary Clinton • Regarding the pitfalls that Middle Eastern countries could face as they fight for democracy. This is true, yes, but is she saying it to convince others to be careful, or to dissuade less-committed democracy fighters in the region? source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 1 Comment • Permalink

05 Feb 2011 09:30

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World: Egypt pipeline explosion: Terrorism, sabotage or something else?

  • Was this terrorism or something else? This unexpected pipeline explosion in northern part of the Sinai Peninsula has disrupted the gas flow from Egypt to Jordan, and some suggest it might be meant as a larger message to other Middle East countries (namely Israel). Egypt supplies Israel with nearly 40 percent of its natural gas supply. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink
 
 
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